I want to apologise for taking so long to update this, but I also wanted to quickly thank everyone who left me a kind message over the last couple of months when I was seriously considering not continuing any of my stories (this included, naturally). I still generally feel like shit, but I'm slowly getting to the point where I just stop caring. Basically, I'm trying to ignore the part of me that needs constant validation lol. Oh well.
Anyway. I'm also going to apologise for this chapter as a whole. I've been working on it for nearly four months, and I'm just... so done with it. I honestly can't stand to work on a single chapter of it for a second longer, so I'm updating it now. I don't want to have to come back to this and edit it or even read it again. I just need to get it out of the WIP stage before it drives me actually insane. I will say, though, that actually proofreading this just before and actually remembering just what the fuck I even wrote, it's not as bad as I'd thought over the last few weeks where I've really tried to finish the last scene of it of. Still... I don't love it.
This chapter is basically just a filler. I have no idea how long the next one will be, but there's a good chance it will be long as all hell (up to 20k words again), but who knows...
But still, hope you like it... I might have another fic posted for Christmas, assuming I manage to get that one finished in the next few days... (My 'hiatus' hasn't been a productive time in the slightest, but that's okay.)
If it was one thing Lucy had come to enjoy more than she should, it was watching Bickslow cook. She'd let her feelings for that particular topic be known on several occasions too, but sometimes, Lucy just couldn't stop herself from telling Bickslow once again just how much she loved that little known fact about him.
There was just something far too heavenly about watching him rush around his kitchen, grabbing pans and boards and chopping up various ingredients for his fancy (well, by Lucy's standards at least) dishes. And when she was exhausted from only having arrived back in Magnolia first thing that very morning from a tiring job two-day with her team, watching her favourite Seith mage in action was a great way to start her day – not that she'd actually slept or anything recently, but still.
"Mm, it's so hot watching you cook," Lucy murmured almost absentmindedly. She wasn't even regretting going to Bickslow's instead of getting the sleep she probably really needed. She couldn't get breakfast cooked for her by a strangely attractive Seith mage if she was sleeping, and no dream could top getting to watch him make her that breakfast either.
Bickslow could only roll his eyes. He was still trying to figure out why Lucy was even there that morning – and just why she'd found it necessary to wake him and his daughter up at seven thirty in the morning by jumping on him when he'd been fast asleep for once.
But as far as her calling him hot went, he wasn't really that confused. It had been a few days since Thanksgiving; he hadn't seen Laxus since then, but he had talked to Lucy a lot more over those few days, and unsurprisingly he'd enjoyed it. Although that was mostly just because he seemingly still couldn't get enough of just being around her. But still, now that they were talking again, things were kind of back to normal again, except now that they'd actually somewhat admitted out loud to each other that they did care at least a little more than they should, things between them were just a tiny bit different.
They just weren't quite so careful around each other all of a sudden. And maybe what Bickslow liked the most that had changed, was that Lucy wasn't so scared of being just a little more playful with him. It made things entertaining.
Sometimes.
"That's because you're sitting right next to the stove that is currently on, you dork," he responded over his shoulder. "And stop sitting on the counter."
Lucy sighed as she hopped down from the bench. Well I suppose that does explain how warm I was… "You're still sexier when you're cooking though," she pointed out. Much, much sexier…
"Oh, the pain." Bickslow held his hand to his chest and sobbed dramatically. "And here I was thinking that you actually cared for me. But alas, I'm no more than your precious eye candy and your personal chef."
Lucy nodded before extending her arms to make grabby hands for the coffee he'd promised her earlier. "Yup. Now hurry up with my coffee. Lucy needs caffeine." She was probably going to fall asleep if she didn't get some coffee into her soon, and Lucy really didn't want to fall asleep just yet. She could sleep later.
Bickslow just sighed at her as he finished pouring the milk into the coffee in the largest mug he even owned. If Lucy was annoying like that when she was sleep deprived, he was terrified of finding out what she was like when she was completely drunk. The one time he'd seen her drink so much she'd actually gotten drunk was on Valentine's Day right after she'd broken up with Laxus, but Bickslow couldn't even really remember much about that day just because he'd had that much to drink. All he did remember was that they'd somehow ended up lying on a random rooftop and laughing at the clouds. But still, Bickslow had a pretty good idea of how Lucy was when she'd been drinking too much from their Halloween encounter, but for the most part, he was scared of what Lucy was actually like.
He had a horrible feeling she'd be a handful.
The first sip of the coffee only had Lucy almost moaning. "God, you make such good coffee. You should just quit being a mage and open a café."
"I'm not opening a café."
"Maybe a restaurant then!" she suggested with another sip. She would undoubtedly be his favourite customer if he ever opened his own place. She'd also probably become highly dependent on caffeine if he opened a café, but whatever. That was a burden Lucy would live with. "Oh! Maybe you could teach cooking classes!"
"Cooking classes? Really?" Bickslow stared at her unbelievingly with an eyebrow raised. "You want me to teach cooking classes?"
"Hey, don't give me that look. It's a brilliant idea, thank you very much."
"Uh-huh. Sure."
Lucy just huffed in annoyance as she folded her arms. She really did think it was a brilliant idea, and she was annoyed at Bickslow for thinking it was stupid so quickly. She hadn't even had a chance to explain why it was a great idea! "It is though," she insisted. "Because you're really good at cooking, and it's not like you make overly fancy things, either. You make simple things, like… Like omelettes! And salads!"
Bickslow frowned. "What's wrong with simple?"
"Nothing is wrong with simple. I'm just saying that you make simple things like that and make them look and taste like they came from a four-star restaurant or something." Lucy shrugged as she picked her mug up again. "I think you'd do well if you taught cooking classes. Most are either too basic or way too complicated. Yours could be somewhere in the middle. I'd be the first to sign up if you had your own class." Hell, it would be the only cooking class she'd even consider going to more than once. She might even learn something if Bickslow was her teacher, too… Well, maybe. There was a good chance she'd spend more time just watching rather than actually learning, but that was good, too.
And for a few moments, Bickslow found himself actually considering teaching a goddamn cooking class. He most definitely had the talent and the skills to do it, and he would admit that he got what Lucy meant about most other classes around being at either end of the difficulty spectrum. Something in the middle would probably be useful to some people…
But Bickslow didn't have the patience to teach anything to anyone, nor did he really have the time to, especially now that he had a kid. Teaching was more up Freed's alley than anything.
He just shook his head before turning to scrape the chives into one of the pans on the stove. "Nah. Teaching ain't my thing. Sorry to ruin all your wild fantasies involving me as a teacher, Cosplayer."
Lucy sighed again. "I guessed you'd say something like that. Not to bother." As far as her Teacher Bickslow fantasies went, those weren't going anywhere, especially not as long as he kept wearing his glasses. She was just a little disappointed he didn't wear them that often. "But I'm guessing that means I won't be able to convince you teach just me a few things?"
Bickslow knew Lucy was almost a walking disaster when it came to cooking, but he knew that it was really just because she hadn't needed to learn how to do it herself until she'd left her old world. And even coming from the same world, the only reason he knew his way around a kitchen was because he'd grown up learning how to cook. Cooking was something he enjoyed doing, though, so he didn't mind in the slightest that part of the reason Lucy was still hanging around was just because she got free food out of him. As far as Scarlett went, Bickslow had long since stopped needing Lucy around.
But that didn't mean he didn't need her around, because he did. He just didn't quite know why he felt that particular way, though he did have a bit of a theory that made sense of everything strange that had happened between them recently – Bickslow just tried not to think about that theory, though, because he knew that it was bound to make things a whole lot worse if he was right.
Still, Bickslow was just a little worried about Lucy no longer having any reason to hang around. He just didn't want her to go. And if he taught her how to cook, wouldn't he just be making her stop coming around sooner rather than later? But I still can't say no to her…
"Um, maybe later or something," he mumbled instead. He was incapable of saying no to teaching her how to cook, but he didn't want to say yes. Maybe was just going to have to do, and later was just vague enough that he might be able to put it off if Lucy pestered him about it.
That was an answer Lucy could live with though.
Bickslow sighed in relief as he folded the last of the tiny onesies that Scarlett had finally started fitting into and added it to one of the piles in front of him. He'd been amazed at how quickly she'd grown out of her newborn clothes – and at how quickly she'd grown in general, because it hadn't been that long since he'd found her and she'd been so incredibly tiny then – and had moved up to her zero-to-three month clothes. She'd been in those since she'd been three weeks old, but now when she was nearly seven weeks, the next size was finally fitting her well, although Bickslow only expected to be having to go out and get some of the next size in just a few more weeks.
But with all of his washing he'd been neglecting out of laziness for the last week and a half finally done, he could finally relax and just enjoy the peace for a little while before his daughter woke up again.
It was just that as he leant back on his hands where he sat in the middle of his lounge room, he began to realise just how peaceful it already was. Aside from the soft sounds coming from the lacrima-vision still, the constant faint buzzing in his head from the souls that he mostly tuned out at that point in his life, and his own quiet breathing, there wasn't anything else to be heard. It was just too quiet for what it should've been.
So curiously, he turned to look over his shoulder to where Lucy had been sitting in the corner of the sofa and watching the lacrima-vision, just to find the same blonde curled up in the same spot and sleeping peacefully.
"How long has she been asleep?" he asked the two totems that had been perched on the lounge just next to Lucy the entire time.
"Since Rose and Jack were making the windows all foggy in the back of the carriage," Pippi answered to a chorus of giggles from the rest.
Bickslow only rolled his eyes before turning back to the screen. He'd seen Titanic enough times (courtesy of Evergreen, as usual) to know that the movie was already more than halfway through and the moronic captain had already doomed everyone on board. He figured the fact Lucy had stopped making comments about the movie around the time she'd supposedly fallen asleep made sense, too, especially now that he thought about it.
But if anything, Bickslow was only surprised that Lucy had managed to fall asleep at all considering how much coffee she'd consumed that morning. Though he did have to admit that he much preferred her actually sleeping instead of trying to survive on caffeine, especially since he knew that it had been a while since Lucy had actually slept.
Bickslow couldn't even help but think it was kind of nice then, too, and not just because he thought Lucy was really fucking cute when she as sleeping; but because it felt nice. But it wasn't really just because having Lucy around always seemed to make him feel a whole lot better, but because it was just oddly domestic, and he'd come to really enjoy the whole domestic way of life in the last few weeks with Scarlett.
It wasn't the first time he'd thought about either. It had crossed his mind just a few times that Lucy might've been getting just a bit too comfortable recently, with still being there all the time and doing things for his kid that she really didn't need to do anymore. He got that Lucy just wanted to help, but the truth was that he just didn't really need it anymore. And even then, as incapable as Bickslow was of complaining about Lucy choosing to still be there, he hadn't been able to stop himself from beginning to worry about Scarlett getting attached to her. He didn't really care that Lucy had gotten attached to the kid, but Scarlett getting attached to Lucy was just something else. It was fine for now, sure, but the last thing Bickslow wanted was his daughter thinking Lucy was her mother or something. And if anything, Bickslow was just more worried about Lucy than his kid if that ended up happening.
But thankfully, he still had months to try and figure out a way around that, because Bickslow didn't think he'd be able to tell Lucy that he didn't want her around anymore.
Still, with Lucy having fallen asleep – although not because looking after a kid who still didn't really understand the concept of sleep had tired her out so much – Bickslow only wondered just what he was supposed to do. He could just leave her there, but the lounge room wasn't completely closed off from the rest of the house and Bickslow didn't want to wake her up from making too much noise, so that really just left trying to move her someplace else – though he didn't really know how he was supposed to do that without waking her up.
His old bedroom that was upstairs came to mind next, but Bickslow was quickly shooting that idea down as well when he remembered that it hadn't been cleaned in at least the last few months. God knows how much dust was in there, and really, Bickslow himself didn't even want to have to sleep in there. So that really just left one other place, and it was the only place that Bickslow knew she wouldn't be disturbed in, too.
So getting up from where he sat in the middle of the floor, he crouched down in front of Lucy for a moment to make sure she was still asleep, and was then trying his best to gently scoop her up without waking her. Bickslow figured she must've been completely out of it when she didn't even seem to notice being picked up, despite her uncurling slightly in his arms and letting her limbs fall haphazardly over either of his arms. Bickslow honestly thought she just looked uncomfortable like that, since her face was just buried in the crook of his elbow, but it miraculously didn't seem to faze her.
The babies only told him that Lucy was weird, and really, Bickslow couldn't help but agree.
He walked carefully down the hall to his bedroom with the babies still trailing behind him, and then had Pappa and Puppu nudge one of the pillows down to a better position before Bickslow gently lowered the blonde down onto the mattress. He hadn't bothered pulling the blanket or the sheet back, so instead he quickly grabbed a throw blanket from the laundry cupboard and then returned to drape it over her.
Bickslow only watched her slowly curl in on herself again beneath the blanket before walking around to the opposite side of the bed to close the curtains completely. "Mmm… Warm…" Lucy murmured then, and for a minute, Bickslow wondered if he'd woken her up anyway.
Poppo decided to try and figure out if she was awake or not though, and so the soul flew towards Lucy to gently nudge her. Lucy still didn't seem to be awake, but she sighed into the pillow before pulling the blanket up over her shoulders, and Poppo found himself being pulled into the blonde's chest with it.
"H-Help! Suffocating!"
Bickslow had to hold a hand over his mouth to stop himself from chuckling out loud as the rest of the babies quickly flew from the room. "You don't even breathe, Poppo," he silently reminded the soul.
"But I'm trapped!"
The Seith mage shook his head as he closed the bedroom door behind himself. "I ain't helping you." Aside from the fact that freeing the little totem that Lucy had latched onto would wake her, Bickslow really just had no intentions of doing anything. It was Poppo's own fault for getting so close to her, and he found the fact that she was cuddling one of his other babies right then strangely endearing. Only he got to cuddle with them, and despite Poppo complaining, Bickslow knew the soul didn't mind it at all.
The babies liked Lucy.
So with Lucy sleeping peacefully at the end of the hall, Bickslow only went upstairs to get Scarlett. She'd be up soon anyway, and it was nearly lunch time for him, so he figured now was as good a time as any to get her up and get her fed, too.
When Lucy woke up later that afternoon, it took her a few moments to get her bearings and realise she was in Bickslow's bedroom and on his bed. She stretched her arms up above her head until they just touched the headboard when she rolled onto her back, and it was only then that she became aware of something small and pointy digging into her side repeatedly. Lucy didn't get a chance to reach beneath the warm blanket she had over her before whatever it was that had been digging into her was flying out from under her of its own accord, and revealing itself to be one of Bickslow's totems.
"Oh, I'm sorry," Lucy laughed tiredly. "Was I crushing you?"
"Yes," Poppo answered, just for Lucy to laugh quietly again. As much as the soul had come to enjoy being smothered by someone other than Bickslow for a change, Poppo was very much glad to be finally free. The only problem was that all entrances to the bedroom had been closed by Bickslow, so until Lucy actually got up, Poppo was stuck in there. He learnt his lesson, though, so as soon as he was free, he was zipping off out of Lucy's reach. He wasn't wanting to be crushed again, thank you very much.
After a few more moments, Lucy did decide to sluggishly pull herself out of bed. She was tempted to take the blanket with her, it was just so warm and soft, and after just sitting on the edge of the bed where her feet still wouldn't touch the ground, Lucy decided to take it with her anyway. So with the throw blanket wrapped snugly around her shoulders, she quietly padded out into the hall with Poppo trailing behind her in search of a certain Seith mage.
It wasn't hard to find him, unsurprisingly, and when Bickslow looked up from where he sat in the living room with Scarlett just in front of him in her bouncy seat, he only laughed at the sight of Lucy all wrapped up in the blanket. "You good there?"
Lucy sighed happily as she tucked herself into the corner of the lounge. "I'm very good, thank you," she answered, and then ignored the urge to hide under the blanket as she added quietly, "And thank you for, you know, letting me sleep."
Bickslow shrugged. He figured the blush she was sporting was more about how she'd gone from sleeping on the sofa to sleeping in his bed, not from how she'd just been sleeping at all. But he decided not to confirm that he had, in fact, carried her there himself. "You needed it."
"I really did," she sighed again, agreeing that time. "But I still feel like I could sleep for another few hours. What time is it anyway?"
"About five. But if you're still tired, why don't you go home and get some more sleep?" he suggested.
"Well, if I sleep some more, I'll only wake up in the middle of the night and then I won't be able to get back to sleep." Then, she was shifting towards Bickslow just to lay her head on his shoulder and look up with a coy smile as she added, "Plus, it's really warm here, and if I went home I wouldn't be able to have you make me dinner."
He rolled his eyes at the mage comfortably leaning on him. "Jeez, when was the last time you even cooked for yourself anyway? You might as well just move in at this point, you spend so much time here anyway." And as soon as the words had left his mouth, Bickslow had to stop himself from reaching for the cushion to suffocate himself. I really need to start thinking about what I say. The worst part seemed to be that he really wouldn't mind all that much if Lucy did somehow end up living with him. There were far worse people to have as roommates.
And thankfully, Lucy thought just as little about her own response that went with a quick kiss to the Seith mage's cheek as she sat up to climb over him to her feet. "Don't tempt me." Because the food alone was more than enough to have Lucy almost wishing she could stay there permanently. The fact she just happened to be the most comfortable around Bickslow at that point was a bonus. With Bickslow just a little too stunned by her response to come up with his own, Lucy proceeded to open up the kitchen cupboards. "How come you never do dessert?" she wondered aloud.
Dessert? "Uh… I'm not really good at that kind of thing…"
"Really?"
He shook his head. "Can't even bake a cake to save my life."
Lucy gave him an odd look over her shoulder before returning to her search for anything she could use to make cupcakes. She was craving something sweet all of a sudden, and cupcakes were always her go-to when she wanted something to treat herself with. "Well, luckily for you, I can bake a cake," she said. Finding the flour in a canister at the back of the cupboard, she pulled it out and held it out triumphantly. "And muffins. And cookies. All sorts of things, really. I'm not even half bad at it."
"But you can't cook," Bickslow surmised.
"Correct." She began her search for baking powder and vanilla essence then, so she was ducking back down to rest on her knees in front of the cabinets – and of course, she still had the blanket wrapped around her without a care in the world. It was comfy. With her head in the cupboard, Lucy was calling back to the Seith mage, "Now, how do you feel about vanilla cupcakes?"
"Excuse me?"
She pulled her head out just to rest her chin on the top of the open cupboard door. Her entire body was hidden from Bickslow at that point, and all that was visible was her head and the end of the blanket draped behind her. "Vanilla cupcakes," she repeated. "Do you like them?"
Now it was Bickslow's turn to give Lucy the odd look, and he kept it as he sat up to reach forward and pick Scarlett up from the bouncer. It was reaching the point in the day where Scarlett was going to start getting grumpy if she didn't have another quick nap before dinner, and Bickslow really didn't want to deal with his daughter trying her best to actually scream her little lungs out (and the house down, probably). Crying, sure, but screaming? Oh no. That just brought on an instant headache and he'd never been able to deal all that well with even the tiniest of headaches.
"Uh, sure." Bickslow didn't know what else to say as he shrugged and brought Scarlett up to his chest. "I like vanilla cupcakes."
"Great!" So with Bickslow heading upstairs, Lucy only went about gathering the rest of the ingredients to make her vanilla cupcakes. She was quite happy to find that Bickslow's kitchen had everything she needed – even icing sugar! – and didn't waste any time in getting started on them.
By the time Lucy had finished mixing up the batter and placed the cupcakes in the oven (Bickslow had honestly just been surprised to find he even owned a muffin tray), Bickslow only decided that it was just about time to get dinner started. It had only just gone five o'clock so it was earlier than he liked, but the last time Lucy had eaten was breakfast and it was a miracle any cupcakes had made it into the oven at all, considering how much of the batter she'd eaten.
He'd gone grocery shopping the day before though, so his fridge and cupboards were full once again, but it only meant he had no idea what to make that night. Lucy being there so often really was testing him, because before Scarlett, Bickslow had really just eaten what he wanted when he felt like it. The only meal he'd consistently done properly was breakfast – because breakfast was of course the most important meal of the day, and he really loved him some bacon. But Bickslow had to admit it was still really quite fun to actually cook for someone else, and Lucy's reactions never failed to entertain him.
Still, he had no fucking clue what he was supposed to come up with that night. It would be so much easier if Lucy had a food she absolutely hated. But so far, he hadn't found any.
"I take it you don't have requests for actual food, right?" he asked the Celestial mage with a sigh over his shoulder.
"Nope," Lucy giggled with a lick of the spatula still covered in cupcake batter. "Not at all."
Bickslow rolled his eyes as he reached over to confiscate the mixing bowl Lucy had been hoarding and the spatula she'd used, too, and then dropped them both in the sink. "Stop eating that shit," he mumbled.
"But it tastes nice," she whined.
"Yeah, because you put a fuck load of sugar in it, you dork."
"Your point?"
"You'll make yourself sick," Bickslow said. He would know – he'd ingested enough sugar on numerous occasions to make himself vomit. And really, it wasn't fun. Sure, he'd still laugh his fucking ass off if Lucy ended up feeling sick from eating so much of the cupcake batter (she'd basically cleaned the damn bowl herself just with her tongue), but he still didn't really want it to happen. Turning back to the fridge finally, Bickslow only stared at its contents for a few more moments before pulling out the tray of chicken breasts from the bottom shelf. "I take it you're not opposed to having chicken?"
"Nope."
"Good…" he mumbled. "Now, what to do with it…" Bickslow quickly cleaned up the rest of the mess from Lucy's cupcake endeavour before opening up almost all of his cupboards to see what was available for him to use. The canister of rice was what he spied first, and that was really all he needed to decide on something to cook that evening.
By the time the counter was topped with all the ingredients Bickslow had pulled from the cupboards and shelves, Lucy had a bit of an idea as to what he'd decided to do with the chicken, though some of them did confuse her just a little bit. "Are you going to do some kind of stir-fry or something like that?" she asked.
"Yup." Bickslow was just grabbing the frying pan from another cupboard when he got another idea. He'd been watching Lucy closely enough when she'd been making the cupcakes to learn a few things (like consistency, which was apparently super important), and despite having had no interest in teaching Lucy how to cook earlier, Bickslow suddenly didn't think it was that bad of an idea. He could have some fun with it, too. "You wanna help me with it?"
Lucy's eyebrows rose in surprise at the offer. "Seriously?" Considering his earlier opposition to teaching her how to cook, she was really quite curious about where it was coming from.
"Sure. I mean, it's not difficult or anything. Even Laxus can make a stir-fry."
"Yeah, go ahead and insult her. That's definitely how you get her to stick around," Pappa teased.
Bickslow simply ignored it, just as he did Lucy's eye-roll. He wasn't really insulting her; he was merely pointing out the truth. "Besides," he continued, "You wanted me to teach you how to cook, didn't you? I have to feed Scout anyway."
"Oh, well… Are you sure?" Lucy questioned. There was a difference between taking over his kitchen just to sate her random craving for vanilla cupcakes, and to actually make dinner. That alone was just a little strange, and it wasn't just because she was ultimately just a guest there and she felt weird actually cooking dinner for him.
It was more about how oddly domestic all of it was making her feel; like she wasn't really just a guest there at all. Except she knew that a guest was all she really was, regardless of how at home she'd been allowed to feel, and how different things had become between herself and Bickslow.
But maybe the worst part was that she didn't mind any of it – not how confusing things were or how at home she felt there. She didn't care because as domestic as all of it was, it felt nice. And at that exact moment, Lucy couldn't really think of anything nicer than just hanging out with Bickslow and Scarlett.
"I suggested it, didn't I?"
"I suppose so…" Lucy agreed, then gave a small nod as she got up from the bar stool opposite the counter. "But sure, I'll help. I mean, I don't know how much help I'll actually be…"
Bickslow rolled his eyes at her. "Oh, shut up. Don't be so negative." Lucy being negative was really just confusing. And he might've laughed a little bit more had he not just witnessed her make the best goddamn cupcakes that he was sure he would ever taste. As far as Bickslow was concerned, Lucy was obviously better at cooking – and even baking – than she gave herself credit for.
"Hey, I'm just stating the facts…" she mumbled.
He decided to ignore that, and instead just pulled his favourite knife out from the top drawer and laid it on the board next to the unpacked chicken. "Okay, so basically, all you want to do with the chicken is cut it in half with the blade parallel to your palm like this"—he demonstrated with his palm laying just above the piece of chicken and picked the knife up in his other hand—"so you're thinning it out. Then, you just cut it into strips the other way."
Lucy nodded. Seems simple enough. "Got it."
After quickly washing his hands, Bickslow was leaving Lucy to cutting up the chicken and climbing the stairs to collect his daughter. By the time he was carrying her down the stairs and returning to the kitchen, Lucy was just finishing up with the chicken.
"What do I do now?" Lucy asked as she set the knife down onto the board again and looked back to the Seith mage, precariously holding his wriggling daughter in one arm and trying to open a clean bottle for her in his other hand. "Give her to me for a second," she laughed gently with a roll of her eyes again as she dried her hands on the tea towel and then reached for Scarlett.
"Thanks," Bickslow mumbled. It was really quite difficult to do anything when he was dealing with an infant that didn't particularly want to be held right then. He didn't understand Scarlett's newfound fussiness when it came to being held sometimes, but he was working through it – just like how he was working through how she seemed to hate an entirely new thing every goddamn week. Quickly adding the measured scoop to the bottle, he screwed the lid back and began shaking it quickly to mix it up. "But, now…" Bickslow glanced to the ingredients on the counter beside Lucy before looking to the stove. "Now you can put the rice on so it'll be ready when everything else is done."
Passing Scarlett back to Bickslow, Lucy went to work on setting the rice on the stove. Thankfully, she knew how to cook rice, so she didn't need Bickslow telling her how to do that. She did, however, need to ask where a big enough pot was. Then, with the water coming to a boil behind her, Lucy was getting the rest of the ingredients prepared, as per Bickslow's ongoing instructions.
After crushing the cloves of garlic, to which Bickslow only laughed at her for trying to slice them up into thin slivers instead of just hitting them with the back of the knife first, it was onto the onion. She'd barely started cutting it up before her eyes were stinging and she was having to take a breather. That was when she made the unfortunate mistake of rubbing her eyes with her fingers.
Bickslow couldn't help but cackle at the blonde's misery. "That was fucking stupid."
"Shut up," Lucy mumbled. She began fanning her eyes with her hands at that point, and exhaling deeply through her mouth to try and get her eyes to stop watering. "I hate cutting onions."
"We all do, baby," he chuckled. Though he was mostly immune to their effects by then since he used them in a lot of his dishes. Grinning as he looked down to his daughter still drinking from the bottle he held just above her, Bickslow couldn't help but tease Lucy some more. "Cosplayer's an idiot, isn't she?" he said in his baby voice that Lucy only loved to tease him about. "Oh yes she is! Such an—"
"Alright, cram it, asshole," she muttered.
"Hey, no swearing around the little person, please!"
Lucy rolled her eyes – thankfully the stinging had subsided already. She didn't need to point out his hypocrisy since she knew he was already well aware of it. Instead, she just shook her head and carefully proceeded with the preparation of the ingredients. "Oh, bite me," she mumbled.
Bickslow smirked as he replied all too quickly, "With pleasure." And the flush on the other mage's cheeks made it so, so worth it. He was enjoying the newfound freedom he seemed to have with Lucy a little too much.
By the time Lucy had finished slicing up the onions, the mushrooms, measured out the other vegetables, and gotten the rice into the boiling water, Scarlett had been fed and burped and was just about falling asleep again. That only left Bickslow to be mindlessly walking back and forth in the kitchen as he gently rubbed his daughter's back, and also annoyed the living hell out of Lucy – or at least that was how she saw it.
"You're not mixing it right," he commented over Lucy's shoulder as she attempted to whisk the peanut butter based sauce for the stir-fry.
Her automatic response was lifting the whisk up to try and get him in the face with it, but he unfortunately stepped back just in time. "Well, I'm trying, but it's not working," Lucy defended herself with a pointed glare to the face hovering over her other shoulder. "And I don't recall hovering over you so much when you're the one cooking."
"You couldn't hover over me unless you were standing on a ladder anyway," Bickslow teased. He had no mercy whatsoever that evening, apparently, and he honestly loved it. Annoying Lucy had really always been one of his favourite pastimes. "Besides, I'm teaching you stuff, aren't I?"
"No, you're not. You're annoying me."
Same difference. "You need to add more water to the sauce," he said, finally backing out of the kitchen to Lucy's relief. "It'll thin it out."
And when Bickslow headed for the stairs, no doubt just to put Scarlett back in her crib in her nursery, Lucy was filling the measuring jug with a little more water from the tap and then pouring it into the bowl with the sauce in small increments. The sauce was the last thing that had needed to be done, so when Bickslow came back downstairs, she was quickly wiping her hands on the towel and asking what she was to do next.
Next was the actual cooking part, and Lucy really couldn't help but be a little nervous. She was absolutely terrible, as far as she was concerned, and she really didn't want to be making Bickslow sick or anything from perhaps undercooking anything – especially the chicken. "You know what? I think I've done enough cooking today," Lucy said as she turned away from the large pan heating up on the stove. From the cupcakes cooling on the rack next to the stove, to cutting up all of the ingredients and mixing up the peanut sauce, Lucy had done her fair share of cooking that day. There was a reason she had little money left at the end of each month – it was because she spent most of it on eating out and on clothes she didn't need. Though she would admit she'd saved quite a bit in the last few weeks, spending so much time with Bickslow… "Why don't you just put it all together, yeah?"
Bickslow frowned as he reached out to catch her wrist and gently tug her back into the kitchen between the counters. "Hey, come on. Where's that coming from? You were bugging me about teaching you to cook earlier," he said. "Why don't you want to all of a sudden?"
"I just… changed my mind," she mumbled with a small shrug.
"Well, I ain't buying it." Bickslow would be the first to admit that he didn't know all that much about Lucy, but he knew that she wasn't the type of person to just suddenly change her mind on something – not even when it was about simple things like cooking dinner. And before she could argue it, Bickslow turned and picked up the bowl with the sliced onions, and then dropped them into the pan with a sprinkle of oil over the top before he was gently pulling Lucy to stand directly in front of the stove.
"Bix, I really don't—"
"Nope. Come on, it's easy. You can do it." He didn't think all that much when he reached around her for the spatula before his arms were wrapping loosely around her waist, but in his mind, it was really just the easiest way to keep her from running – and he still wasn't quite sure why she even wanted to. "I'll even help you," he added softly.
"It's really probably best if I don't do anything…" Lucy tried persuading him still, despite her inner voice telling her to just get the hell over her weird fear of cooking for Bickslow, because there was something far too appealing about the idea of cooking together, especially the way they were right then. "I would hate to ruin it – or make you sick or anything."
"Negativity doesn't suit you, Lucy," he murmured.
"Good to know."
Bickslow sighed as he pushed the fried onions around in the pan quickly before turning the heat down on the side. "How about this then," he began, lowering his chin to Lucy's shoulder. "You finish making dinner, and I will make you whatever you want, whenever you want it. Or something like that. I don't know. What's something you'd really like?"
She stared down at the slivers of onion that were slowly browning in the pan and considered the question. There wasn't a single dish or meal that she really wanted – at least not one she could think of at that exact moment. There was, however, something similar that Lucy wouldn't mind having Bickslow make for her. She wouldn't mind it one bit.
It was just that Lucy wasn't quite sure if it was… appropriate. It probably wasn't, but she strangely didn't seem to care all that much. Bickslow asked, and she would answer. And so after just a few moments, where she'd only been letting out a soft and drawn out hum, Lucy said, "Breakfast in bed."
"Breakfast in bed?" Bickslow repeated. "That's what you really want?"
She nodded. "Yup." She'd only ever had someone make breakfast in bed for her once, and it had been her team on her twentieth birthday just a few months earlier. Of course, waking up to her entire team in her apartment had scared the living hell out of her, and breakfast had really just been toast and orange juice – but it had been sweet, and Lucy just really, really wanted someone to make her breakfast in bed again.
Bickslow had to admit it was odd, mostly just because as far as he was concerned, it would imply that the recipient of said breakfast had actually spent the night there and then woken up in the bed that breakfast was to be served. And Lucy… She'd never really stayed intentionally. The only times she'd spent the night there were because she'd just fallen asleep because it had been late, when they'd both been down with a cold for the weekend, or when they'd slept together on Halloween. Of course, Lucy could always just come over in the morning and then make her breakfast in bed that way, or he could even just visit her in her own apartment. But neither of those options appealed to Bickslow much – the latter just didn't even seem to be possible, especially since he had Scarlett to consider too.
But the more Bickslow thought about it, the more he realised that he didn't mind the idea of Lucy staying over. Hell, he actually liked it.
"Uh, sure. I guess I can do that," Bickslow eventually said. "When do you want it?"
Lucy shrugged. She hadn't thought that far ahead, mostly because she hadn't expected Bickslow to agree to it. "I don't know. I'll let you know."
"Alright then."
With the onions browned and softened to perfection, it was time to add the next of the ingredients, so Bickslow was separating himself from the blonde to get the garlic and the chicken from island counter – or at least, Bickslow attempted to separate himself from the blonde. As soon as he was stepping back and unwinding his arms from her waist, Lucy was stepping back with him and laying her hands over his forearms. "Nooo, don't leave me," she giggled.
"I'm not leaving you, you dork," Bickslow chuckled. Although he was rather confused about Lucy not wanting him to let go of her. He'd have expected her to be a little weirded out by it by that point, just because it felt far too couple-y, and by under no circumstances were they a couple. That being said, he liked the awkward kitchen cuddling – or whatever the hell it was they were even doing. "I'm just getting the garlic and the chicken to put in the pan."
"Well then…" And so, of course, when Bickslow tried stretching his arm to reach for it (he failed, of course, because his arms weren't that long, unfortunately), Lucy found herself walking backwards with the Seith mage, and giggling almost uncontrollably as she tried her best not to trip over Bickslow's feet. Walking backwards while hugging someone was really not a clever idea, as she was realising.
Bickslow didn't really care to find out just why Lucy was content with him holding her, because the only thing that mattered to him was that it might've been the most at ease he'd felt in the last few days. And the reason for that still wasn't one he was ready to accept, so for the time being, he was just going to go with the flow. And right then, that just meant standing in his kitchen with his arms around someone they probably shouldn't be, and gently swaying side to side while Lucy eventually did all of the actual cooking.
Once dinner had been finished and Bickslow had started cleaning up most of the mess, the cupcakes had cooled and were ready to be iced. Lucy hadn't wanted anything fancy, so she'd only opted for a plain and simple vanilla icing to go with the plain and simple vanilla cupcakes.
By the time she'd finished covering each of the cupcakes in the white icing, the bench had been dirtied once again, and Bickslow couldn't help but sigh as he grabbed the cloth to wipe under the metal cooling rack and clean up the dried icing that had fallen between the cupcakes.
"You know, generally when someone makes a mess, they clean it up," he said with a glance up to the mess-maker.
"I was going to get to it eventually," Lucy shrugged.
"Were you actually?"
She nodded. "Yes," she insisted. "Once I'm done with this." And by this, Lucy apparently meant the icing, and Bickslow only found himself watching in a daze as Lucy scooped up a bit of the icing from the bowl with her finger and then dipped it into her mouth.
His mouth might not have been so dry if the icing had been any other colour but white.
"You okay there?" Lucy asked with a hint of a smirk when Bickslow only continued to stare at her with his mouth hanging slightly open.
He blinked, and cleared his head as best he could. "What? Oh. Uh, yeah." Shit, does she have any idea what that looked like? Bickslow was betting that she didn't, or if she did, she'd sure as hell done it on purpose.
"If you say so," she laughed, and only scooped up a little bit more of the remaining icing before dropping the mixing bowl back onto the bench to begin working on the pile of dishes in the soapy sink.
And try as he might, Bickslow seemingly couldn't do a damn thing about the stiffening length that only proved to be making his pants increasingly more uncomfortable. He wanted to ignore it, but he couldn't. Not when the only thing he seemed to be able to think about right then was how much he wanted her; though in the back of his head, want didn't seem to be quite enough. He still felt as if he needed her, except just being close wasn't doing it for him.
The worst part, though, was just that Bickslow couldn't tell what Lucy was thinking. He knew that she was supposed to feel just like he did; she was supposed to be feeling like she needed him. Yet as far as Bickslow could tell, she was perfectly fine. He was having a hard enough time standing still, and all Lucy was doing was the damn dishes.
"Hey, it's your birthday soon, right?"
And why Lucy found it necessary to ask him when his birthday was, he had no fucking clue. "Uh, yeah. In a couple of weeks," he mumbled, blinking and coming back out of his slight daze. "Why?"
Lucy shrugged. "Just wanted to see if there was anything you wanted to do for it," she said. She wasn't sure what Bickslow was planning for his birthday that year, or if he was just going to spend the day with his team and Laxus, but she wouldn't mind being able to do something with him. She liked celebrating birthdays.
Bickslow, on the other hand, didn't. He wasn't a birthdays kind of person, so it was usually just spent like every other day. Although he did have to admit he rather liked the weird presents his friends always seemed to get him.
Still, he wasn't planning anything. He would be quite happy just sitting at home and playing with Scarlett. Yet all of a sudden, an image of Lucy with nothing but a giant, bright red bow to cover her modesty was settling in the forefront of his mind, and Bickslow was realising just what he wanted for his birthday that year. Setting the damp cloth down – cleaning really wasn't on his mind right then – he was moving slowly towards Lucy and then turning her away from the sink with a hand on her waist. "Well, I wouldn't mind you," Bickslow murmured.
She felt her heart start beating just a little bit faster in her chest and tried not to laugh as she became wedged between the counter and the Seith mage. "Me? What's that supposed to mean?"
"You asked what I wanted to do for my birthday," he continued. "And my answer is you." And the flush of Lucy's cheeks told Bickslow that she knew exactly what he meant.
"W-Well, I mean, it's not like it has to actually be for your birthday or anything…" Lucy mumbled awkwardly. She thought it was pretty obvious that she was into the guy, and she really assumed that Bickslow would've realised it by that point. Still, as little as she actually was opposed to sleeping with him – because really, Lucy wasn't sure if there anything to hate about it at all – she wasn't going have sex with him just because it was his birthday and that was what he supposedly wanted. Sleeping with him would just be a bonus of sorts. It sure as hell wouldn't be a present, though. "And anyway," she continued as Bickslow only kept getting closer and closer and gave her no choice but to try and lean over the counter and end up arching her chest into him even further. "What makes you think you can even have me?"
"Oh, I know I can't have you. I just happen to really want you," he answered quickly with a smirk making its home on his mouth.
And honestly, Lucy didn't even want to ask Bickslow just what that even meant. She had an idea about it, but right then, she really wasn't interested in getting into it. "Well, you can't just say that and then not do anything," she mumbled. That was almost the equivalent of teasing her. The guy couldn't just say he wanted her and then not do so much as kiss her. That just wasn't fair. And there was no way Lucy could make the next move. Oh no.
Surprisingly, though, Bickslow hadn't intended to tease her. Not that time, anyway. That was just the way it had turned out. Still, he wasn't one for wasting an opportunity. Slowly sliding his hands from the edge of the bench, Bickslow only closed the last of the distance between them to just barely brush his lips over hers, and then quickly lifted Lucy up with his hands resting on her hips and set her down on a free space just next to the sink.
Lucy sighed quietly out of frustration and looked to Bickslow with a pout. "Are you going to kiss me or am I going to have to do it myself?"
"How exactly are you going to kiss yourself?" he teased. The instant flush of Lucy's cheeks made the sharp jab to his stomach from her fingers worth it.
"That's not what I—" And only then, did Bickslow finally kiss her. She wasn't even that annoyed that he'd cut her off, either. She was just glad he was finally kissing her like she'd only been wanting to do for the entire day – but of course, there was just no way Lucy would've made the first move herself. She'd been tempted to, strangely, but she'd decided against doing anything simply because she hadn't wanted to misjudge something. It was hard to tell what was going through Bickslow's head sometimes – especially then.
She lifted her arms to drape them over his shoulders as she spread her knees to accommodate Bickslow between them. Their lips moved slowly together, unhurriedly and gently – something that was surprisingly new for Bickslow, yet he couldn't seem to pull away. He felt Lucy's hand drop down from his neck and slowly glide down his chest, and he had to supress the shudder that ran through him when her hand slid up under his shirt slightly and her fingers grazed gently over his stomach.
Slowly then, Lucy slipped her hand down past the waistband of his sweatpants and into his underwear, and wrapped her fingers around the base of his shaft. The corners of her mouth pulled up into a smirk as she murmured against Bickslow's lips, "Seriously? Already?"
Bickslow shrugged. "It was the damn icing," he mumbled.
"Are you telling me you get turned on by food now?"
That would definitely be something. "No, food does not turn me on, thank you very much." Or at least he was ninety-nine percent convinced that anything related to food didn't turn him on in the slightest, but Lucy just barely moving her hand and squeezing him gently only seemed to have his thoughts becoming a little too jumbled up. Although still, he was utterly convinced that he wasn't turned on by food, because that would be weird. It was just apparently Lucy licking icing off her fingers that was capable of making him hard. But that in itself was just a little weird. So in his defence, and in an attempt to wipe the smirk off Lucy's lips, Bickslow just quickly leant forward again to press their lips together and then said, "The icing looked like jizz, Cosplayer."
"Oh really?" Lucy giggled mischievously. She could see it now that Bickslow had brought it up, and she certainly couldn't just drop it now. With her free hand, Lucy reached over the sink to pick up one of the vanilla cupcakes, and lifted it up to her mouth to make a point of slowly dragging her tongue across the top of the iced dessert. In her other hand, she felt Bickslow throb, and she gave another lick of the cupcake with a giggle bubbling up from within her.
"Fucking hell…"
Lucy giggled again at the almost strangled moan the Seith mage let out, and she went to lick more icing from the top of the cupcake, only to have it pried from between her fingers as Bickslow then kissed her pouting lips.
"You know what I'm thinking right now?" he hummed against her, reaching down between them to grab Lucy's wrist and pull her hand back up. "I'm thinking," he continued – he'd had no intentions of letting her actually answer, and Lucy's own quiet hum was answer enough anyway, "That I really want to fuck you right now."
"What, right here?"
He glanced around him to the kitchen before turning back to the blonde with a gentle shake of his head. Having Lucy bend over the counter for him wasn't really appealing to him right then. "Uh, no. Not here." Maybe when the kitchen was a little more clean, sure. But right then, hell no. And judging by the hint of relief on Lucy's face, Bickslow was convinced that she wasn't wanting to be getting fucked on any dirty kitchen counter right then either.
Lucy huffed a sigh as she simultaneously wound her legs around the Seith mage's waist and her arms around his neck as she was lifted from the counter. "Thank heavens for that," she giggled, and then once again had her lips pressed to Bickslow's.
He could taste the sugar from the icing on her lips and tongue, and it only proved to drive his inner sweet tooth insane and make him crave Lucy even more than he already did. He could just never say no to anything sweet.
With his hands cupping her ass and her legs around his waist, he turned blindly from the kitchen and for the hall. Her fingers were sifting through his hair and tugging on it just enough for him to enjoy it, and he couldn't contain the moan that escaped his lips, only for Lucy to smother it with her own.
The bed was reached sooner than he expected, although it was by some kind of miracle he even got there at all without tripping over something or walking into something on the way. And as soon as Bickslow's legs bumped into the edge of the mattress, he was falling forwards and landing straight on top of Lucy.
Lucy only laughed as she was pressed into the soft bed and crushed beneath the Seith mage. Bickslow thankfully wasn't as heavy as Laxus, though. "God, get off me you oaf," she groaned.
Bickslow chuckled as his lips brushed against Lucy's again. "Only if you ask nicely," he murmured in return, though he only got a sigh from the woman beneath him, and that was all he'd been expecting from her. He pushed himself up just enough to keep his weight off her, and his tongue slipped past Lucy's open lips when he kissed her again.
Lucy's hands slid down over his shoulders, down his sides until her fingers were gripping the back of his shirt and tugging it up and over his head. Bickslow sat up just long enough to let Lucy get it off him, and as soon as he leant back down to occupy her lips with his own, Lucy was wrapping her legs around his waist again. The evidence of his arousal pressed firmly against her core through their clothing and she couldn't help herself from rolling her hips against him.
He didn't waste any time in beginning to move his way down, almost reluctantly leaving her soft lips just to leave a burning trail behind his lips ghosting down the side of her neck. "Has anyone ever told you…" he began to murmur, only softly kissing the small expanse of skin above the collar of her blouse that left her more than covered up for once, before sitting up quickly to slide down to be level with her waist. "That you taste like vanilla and strawberries?"
She didn't stop herself from rolling her eyes at the odd remark, and ignored the even stranger flutter in her stomach as the Seith mage's mouth quickly ghosted over the flesh beneath her navel and to the waistband of her jeans after just slightly pushing up her shirt. "You can probably still just taste the icing, you dork."
Bickslow was grinning as he appeared back above her flushed face. "But I never actually tried any of the icing myself," he pointed out, deftly unbuttoning her tight jeans before he sat up again to balance on the edge of the bed with one foot back on the ground and began to pull the material down her slender legs along with the hot pink panties that he swore had gold stars printed on them.
Lucy merely shrugged when her clothes joined Bickslow's shirt on the floor. "W-Well… You must be imagining things then," she murmured. "I really don't taste like vanilla or strawberries." She wasn't even sure how that was possible, to be quite honest,
"I beg to differ," Bickslow replied, and with Lucy having spread her knees for him to situate himself between again, he was leaning back down to seal her plump lips with his own and sliding his hand back down her hip before dipping between her legs. His fingers just barely brushed against her clit before teasing her entrance and easing two into her.
She couldn't help but arch into him slightly, and was moaning into Bickslow's mouth as he pumped his fingers in and out of her pussy. Her hand followed the Seith mage's head when he moved down again and gripped his hair. Lucy hadn't even noticed that the top two buttons of her shirt had been already been undone until Bickslow was fiddling with the third with his other hand, and then she found herself torn between wanting to let Bickslow keep doing what he was doing – which was seemingly just making sure there wasn't a spot left on her chest that his lips hadn't touched – and pushing him off of her.
The latter was what Lucy found herself wanting more though, simply because she feeling just a little too impatient. Foreplay wasn't exactly appealing to her right then, even if it was usually the only thing she looked forward to when she was with someone. As far as Lucy was concerned, she could get that from anyone else she wanted; but actually enjoyable sex? For some goddamn reason, Bickslow seemed the be the only person who could give her that, and she'd be the first to admit that she did feel strangely selfish for wondering if part of the reason she liked him as much as she did right then was because he was good in bed.
But still, Lucy was trying hard not to think about that, because she knew that being selfish would mean she was using him - and she sure as hell didn't think she was doing that.
When the fingers in his hair tightened and pulled him upright, Bickslow was just a little confused. But before he could question it, Lucy was pulling himself out from under him just to sit up slightly and covering his mouth with her lips, and pushing him back down onto the bed slowly.
"I want to cum with you inside me," Lucy murmured against his lips, and for a minute, Bickslow was left absolutely dumbfounded. Sometimes he was amazed at what came out of her mouth, even though the image of Lucy being as sweet, innocent, and pure as all hell had long been shattered.
"Well, in that case..." Bickslow couldn't help but chuckle, and was quickly pulling himself up to sit with his back against the pillows behind him before he worked on getting the rest of his clothes off. Lucy took the opportunity to finally get the rest of her own clothes off, and was just slipping her arms through the straps of her bra by the time she was straddling Bickslow's hips once again.
Sitting up, his chest was pressed against hers, and he couldn't resist from kissing her once again, just enough to have their lips barely brushing against each other. He was mostly focused on how even the tiniest of movements would have her rubbing against him, but he didn't once move his hands from where they rested on her hips.
There wasn't much point in staying like that though, and Lucy was standing by what she'd earlier said. With her hand on Bickslow's shoulder, she raised herself up just enough to reach down between them to line him up at her entrance. She might've had no interest in foreplay right then, but Lucy still knew she was going to have to take it slow for a few moments. And with the tip pressing against her, she was about to start slowly easing down, but then Bickslow was tensing suddenly and pushing her back just enough to have her looking back at him with an eyebrow raised in question. "What is it?"
"Wait…" He was close enough to the edge of the bed to be able to reach the nightstand on his side, and was then leaning to the side just enough pull open the top drawer and fumble around in it blindly until he came across what he was looking for and lifted it up for Lucy to see. "Uh, a condom, maybe?" he suggested.
Lucy couldn't help but instantly feel a little stupid when Bickslow held up the foil wrapper, mostly because she hated not having thought of it herself. "Oh! Right, yes. Good idea," she mumbled, moving out of the way and kneeling between Bickslow's legs as he tore the wrapper and rolled the condom on over his shaft. Considering the only form of birth control she was on was still just whatever the hell it was that was wrong with her – not that she had much faith in that after the last few weeks – Lucy couldn't see how using a condom then could be a bad idea. Even then, it was really just convenient – less cleaning up after and all, and that was always nice.
With the protection on, Bickslow was tugging Lucy back up so she was sitting directly over his hips again, and then leaning back into the soft pillows and pulling her with him so there was barely any space left between them – something that Bickslow was coming to realise he loved far too much, even when he was beginning to realise the reason for that in itself.
His lips brushed up the column of her neck and to her cheek as his hand tucked the fallen strands of hair behind her ear, and he softly asked, "You good?"
Lucy only nodded silently before she was reaching down between them to take his cock in hand, and then raising herself up to begin slowly easing down on him. The moment Bickslow was completely sheathed inside her, an almost instant sense of contentment washed over her, and for a short second, Lucy's mind almost went completely blank and she couldn't even remember just what she was doing right then; all that was on her mind for that split second was that she was suddenly feeling the most tranquil and relaxed that she ever had in her whole life.
She couldn't help but drop her head to the Seith mage's shoulder. "God…" Lucy murmured. Bickslow chuckled softly and she felt his warm breath tickle her cheek.
"Nope, just Bickslow," he said, and Lucy didn't get the chance to do anything other than roll her eyes before the sound of a door slamming out in the living room was heard, followed by an unmistakable voice that had Bickslow tensing and his eyes going wide with sheer panic.
"Oi, Bix. Where are you?"
Of all the times for Laxus to let himself in, it just had to be when he was balls deep in the guy's ex-girlfriend.